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Sunday, 3 May 2009

According to fan feedback ECTL contain elements of Mission of Burma, New Order/Joy Division, Devo, Kraftwerk, The Kinks(!) and Motorhead(!!!). The Kinks I will allow – there’s a certain jangly, rhythmic, tonal quality that is reminiscent of the Kinky ones (until Eric opens his mouth at least), but Motorhead? – you are having a laugh, sir/madam.

The eponymous ‘Eye Contact Leads To’ is a track that certainly admits to the influence of New Order in its skipping synth intro and Sam’s jittery guitar. Eric’s vocals are raw – in a good way – distinctly edgy, almost incongruous given the mainly electronic thrust of the song, but again in a good way, where you might expect smooth lamenting, the edge is welcome, an 80’s punk ghost trapped in the machine of 90’s electronica - intriguing. There are other ghosts present in the mix also – a spectre of Muse in certain wandering keyboard runs – a little light haunting by Mr. Cobain (circa Bleach) in Eric’s angry, howling lyrics.

An absolutely manky (trad. Scots adj. – filthy) baseline provides the intro to ‘Nothingsomething’ – soon joined by anxious guitar and a tripping drum beat from Mikey that drive a schizo harmony at jogging pace – imagine yourself running down the street with a gang of irate jannies chasing you – in vain. This is an energetic platform for Eric’s taunting, verging towards vicious, rants. Something about the beat will definitely make you want to pogo – then it will get lodged in your head and follow you around all day – in a good way.

This review was written in 2006 and ECLT grew on me steadily. It wasn’t an instant thing, but after a couple of listens it’s a joyous experience to curse along with the Glasgow 3some (at that time). Despite some comparisons made on their ms site (www.myspace.com/eyecontactleadsto) at that time there are no dirges here, it’s all upbeat if more thoughtful aggression. Mental Up Your Arse, if you will.

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...to my blog, a scatterbrained journey from one random thought to the next. I make no apologies for this, it's the way we are. Why blog? It seems a bit egotistical at first thought, however I suppose it is, like anything else, about communicating with people, opinions, ideas, suggestions, mostly on the usual areas of creativity (music, film, photography, writing). Hackneyed? No, because these are the ways that we express ourselves, whether the language is ours or someone else's.